Spring/Shock Combo Review Thread

Some of you may have already seen the full coilover review thread. Not everyone can afford them and not everyone needs them. Some people simply just want to drop their cars. If you want to drop and are on a budget, this will be a good guide for you. Please follow the instructions below. Thanks.

Name of springs:

Name of shocks:

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle):

Year/Model:

Your Impression:

Pros:

Cons:

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW!

Pictures (optional):

NO COMMENTS PLEASE!

Before I got the TEIN Flex Damper, this was my setup.

Name of springs: Ground-Control coilover sleeves Limited Edition Street Kit

Name of shocks: Tokico HP shocks

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle):
Coilover sleeves - $300
Shocks - $300

Year/Model: 1995/Integra GS-R Sedan

Your Impression: When I first installed the GCs, I was full of joy. My DB8 was finally lowered and I was able to improve my cornering performance. I was pleased. After a couple of months, I purchased the Tokico HP shocks to replace the stock ones. I was happy driving with this setup on the daily and in the touge. After having a run in the touge with fellow track whores, I realized that I needed to upgrade. I recommend this setup for daily driving and touge. If you want to track with this setup, I suggest getting custom spring rates and getting Tokico Illumina shocks.

Pros:

1) Affordable
2) Height adjustable

Cons:
1) Spring rates too soft for track use
2) Dampening is non-adjustable
3) Tokico HP shocks won't last long when lowered

Overall Rating: 4/5

Pictures (optional):


Ground-Control coilover sleeves


Tokico HP shocks

Name of shocks and springs: Tokico Illumina Set

Cost: About $400

Year/Model: 99 Integra GS

Only had them about a week but so far I am very impressed. The ride is much better and there isnt as much body roll when I attack the corners.

Pro:
Affordable
Adjustable on how firm you want the ride

Cons:
Height not adjustable

Other than that I like them but I have only had them about a week so who knows

Name of springs: Skunk2

Name of shocks: Tokico HP (blues)

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): Springs- $140 shipped Struts- $150 shipped new

Year/Model: 95 integra ls

Your Impression: Looks good and real aggressive, a bit on the bumpy side, but fairly solid around corners. Great if you are lookin for a clean drop and somethin other than springs on stock struts

Pros: 2.5'' drop, fair around corners, good beginner set up, struts havent blown yet and im going on 3.5 years with them!!!!!

Cons: Little on the bouncy side, kinda stiff (these could be pros, but some may see it as cons). Also, the blues are non adjustable.

Overall Rating: I would give it about a 3.75/5

Name of springs: skunkworks (skunk2)

Name of shocks:kyb agx

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): $100 used coilovers, $300 struts

Year/Model:1994 acura integra gsr 4 dr

Your Impression: rides nice, stiffness on ride depends on settings, overall handles corners very well depending on setup

Prosrice, long lasting, adjustibility

Cons:could be stiffer like koni's

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW!
i give it a 4 out of 5

Name of springs: Tein S-Tech

Name of shocks: Tokico HP (non adjustable)

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): S Techs $180 Tokicos $290

Year/Model:'97 LS

Your Impression: Great for an entry level suspension setup.

Pros: Cheaper than full coils, oem style type of ride quality.

Cons: Not as stiff as you would think.

Overall Rating: 3

Pictures (optional):

Name of springs: H&R Sports

Name of shocks: Tokico Illuminas

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): H&R Sports $180; Tokico Illuminas $375

Year/Model: 96 Integra LS

Your Impression: Springs are very comfortable giving you a nice drop. They come alive through the corners, but can be on the soft side at times. The Illuminas are perfect for the springs. You can feel the difference on each setting.

Pros: A little stiffer than OEM ride. Perfect for daily driving. Nice drop while being comfortable. Illuminas make the ride nice and smooth.

Cons: Springs can be soft at times. You need to push the car in order to stiffen springs.

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW! .... 4

Pictures (optional):

Name of springs: H&R Sport Springs

Name of shocks: Tokico HP Shocks

Cost NEW:
Springs - $220'ish
Shocks - $220'ish

Year/Model: 1994/Integra GS-R Sedan

Your Impression: Great for daily driving along with a very nice drop. Not your best for aggressive driving but its great for the streets. I had Eibach Sportlines on the Tokico HPs... those are WAY better for comfort and handling. the drop isn't as low but it sits perfectly above/on the tires.

Pros:

1) Affordable
2) Comfortable
3) Prefect drop for 15s, 16s, 17s
4) Life time warranty on the shocks

Cons:
1) Spring rates too soft for track use / aggressive driving.

Overall Rating: 3.7/5

Name of springs: Ground-Control Sleeved Coilover

Name of shocks: Koni SPSS3

Cost: $243.93 (per Strut)
$271.20 Ground Control Coilover Sleeves (All 4)
$238.00 Ground Control Extended Top Hats (All 4)
$1484.92 Total

Year/Model: 1996 Integra GS-R Sedan

Your Impression: Before I got this, I had some cheap coilover sleeves on some tokico struts (came with the car) and these things sucked. So i pretty much dont have something to compare this setup with. These struts are shorter than the koni yellow sp3 by 25mm in the front and 15mm in the rear. I also got the extended top hat mounts which doesn't make a good combination with the spss3 struts. When I first installed it with my ls meshes, I was so slammed that the wheels where touching a pinch weld in the wheel well. So I had to compress the spring just to get it to a drivable height. Spring rate is front:380 and rear:250. For me, this is suitable for a DD but meant more for the track. The softest dampening setting is a little stiff but I haven't had people complain about it. When the dampening setting is at the stiffest settings, it's definitely hard on your back.

Pros:

• Height Adjustable
• Wide Dampening range
• You can order custom spring rates from Ground Control
• Easy Dampening Adjustabilty
• Pre-shortened and pre-race valved
• Great for the track or touge, Decent for a DD
• The front shocks are 25 mm shorter bodies and have approx. 40 mm of additional rebound stop (droop limiter) compared than the similar Sport shock
• The rear shocks have a 15 mm shorter body and approximately 35 mm additional rebound stop
• You can be lower than everyone else and STILL go lower.

Cons:

• Ground Control doesn't give you coilover keys
• When adjusting the height, the sleeve moves while you adjust
• Expensive
• No mounts for the brake lines
• Does not go good with GC extended top hats

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW!
4.3/5

Name of springs: Ground-Control Sleeved Coilover

Name of shocks: Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable shock

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): Ground-Control $180 (Craigslist FTMFW!) Tokico Illuminas $475 (Weak Sauce Industries)

Year/Model: 1996 Integra LS

Your Impression: The 5 way damper dial makes it a breeze for you to change damper force on the fly. Amazing shocks! They get the job done and are strong enough to handle a beating during touge and autoX.

Pros: 5 way adjustable dampening. Adjustable ride height, from monster truck to SSS certified. Changing the dampening is easy as popping the hood open or trunk and turning a dial with a screw driver. Stiff enough but yet soft enough for rider comfort. My mom even complimented the ride comfort.

Cons: sleeved coilovers minimize shock travel which can damage your shit. Also when I installed the shocks into the sleeve, the rubber sleeve that goes between the shock and sleeve was too fat to slip in. But some weather stripping foam pads did the trick (thanks speedin!) fits like a glove.

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW! 4.5 due to shock travel being shortened

Pictures (optional):


(when i bought them)

Name of springs: H&R Sport

Name of shocks: Koni STR>T

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): Springs = $189 shipped. Struts = $255 shipped

Year/Model: 96 Integra GSR 4 door.

Your Impression: The STR.T struts and H&R sports seem to go together well. The ride is firm, but not harsh at all. Handling is drastically increased over stock. The ride is still comfortable for a daily driver, and is much more fun in the corners.

Pros: Nice budget setup.

Cons: Rear could be about .25" lower.

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW! 4.5

Pictures (optional):

Name of springs: Eibach Sportline 1.7" drop F&R

Name of shocks: KYB- gr2

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): Bought the springs used $75

Year/Model: 97 GS-R

Your Impression: Nice and firm but not back breaking. easy install. will probably upgrade the shocks to an adjustable set down the line

Pros:
good drop
reduced body roll
doesn't scrape everywhere
affordable (in my case. if you can pick up a slightly used set i highly reccomend it)

Cons:
non-adjustable height
tires rub a little at full steering lock

Overall Rating: (1-5) 1=sucks ass 5=FTMFW!
4

Pictures (optional):

Name of springs: Tokico HP springs

Name of shocks: Tokico HP Shocks

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle): bundle price $ 350.00 installed

Year/Model: 2000 GS

Your Impression: this is a good setup the ride is good and it has a good spring rate not too stiff but not soft.

Pros: everything the price,good company and the ride.

Cons: the springs don't sit level :/

Overall Rating: 4

Pictures (optional):

Name of springs: Ground Control Coilover / Eibach Springs (Eibach is the west coast distributor of Ground Control)

Name of shocks: Koni Yellows (Sports)

Cost of springs/shocks (or both if purchased as a bundle):
- Koni Yellows : 490 shipped (eBay)
- Ground Controls : 350 ish (drove up to Ground Control in Shingle Springs, CA)
- Optional: Ground Control Extended Top Hats : 125 ish (from Ground Control)

Year/Model: 96 Integra GSR

Your Impression: This is strictly in comparison to my previous set up which was Stock Shocks with OTS (off the shelves) Ground Controls spring rates. Current set up I decided to go with spring rates fronts:500 and rears:450. I am very impressed with the set up as other have probably posted before and that you have heard. It is a world of difference compared to my previous setup; keeping all variables the same including my ride height. My car still sits fairly low which is why I am even more impressed with the setup because regardless of the setup, being very low will not yield a comfortable ride. It's just mechanically impossible. . Everything is just so much smoother now. It takes the little bumps with ease and does not overly rebound / bounce compared to before. Also, certain vibrations during acceleration went away as well. The car overall is just that much nicer to drive now. I chose to go with f500 and r450 because I know that my car will usually always sit lower than most and wanted it to be stiff so it would not dramatically bounce or rebound and risking damage to other parts of the chassis.

In addition, what really set it off was that we had a good full week of rain here. It was just pouring everyday and as I typically go about my day. I usually take the freeway. Generally in this much heavy rain, my car will hydroplane on multiple occasions. With the new set up I actually only recall hydroplaning once during this week full of rain. Whereas on occasion with heavy rain before, I would hydroplane a good 6-7+ times on the freeway. When I got this much improvement in wet weather conditions; it just set it off for me with this set up as it did not disappoint me one bit.

Ps. My brother also said that my car actually rides better than his BMW 335i sport package suspension.

Pros:
- Height adjustable: Monster truck high to street sweeper low. Sleeve sits directly on the perches. The fronts has 2 perches and the rear has 3 perches.
- Dampening adjustable: On the fly, pop the hood/trunk: turn the knob. You're ready to go. Dampening tunability to your preference
- Koni Shocks manufacture LifeTime warranty
- Ground Control / Eibach Springs manufacture Life Time warranty
- Extended Top Hat options to help prolong life of shocks if you are going very low. Extended top hats will give more shock travel.
- Compatible with OEM stock top hats, brake collar, and fork
- Ground Control Custom Spring Rates: whatever spring rate you want; you get. Vast variability to your preference
- Ground Control sleeves: Lots of options for many different shocks.

Cons:
- Kinda pricy: Add it all up and it can range between 850-1200ish; some argue you can get a Full coilover setup for that price
- ground control sleeves moves when adjusting, but can be easily fixed with some black tape wrapped around the shock before installing the sleeve

Overall Rating: 5

Pictures (optional):